On Thursday September 10, 2015, the Health Policy Project Haiti, HPP AKSE, hosted an event marking the completion of its successful 18-month project focused on protecting the rights of children, women, and girls. HPP AKSE worked to strengthen human rights, child protection, prevention of gender-based violence and violence against women, and aimed to build local magistrates’ capacity to enforce newly enacted laws for protection.

The meeting, held in Port-au-Prince, brought together nearly 150 representatives from the government of Haiti, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), civil society, local and international development organizations, and the media. Special guests included the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Marie Yanick Mézile; Alexious Butler, Director of Democracy and Governance Office at USAID; the General Director of IBESR, Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin; Michel Thermesi, Director General of the School of Magistrates and Supreme Court Judge; and Elyse Gélin Brisson, General Director of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, who spoke on behalf of the agency.

The event provided a space to discuss next steps in the process to foster a favorable environment for human rights in Haiti. Discussions highlighted major achievements during the project period, including the passing of legislation such as the law on paternity, maternity and filiation (2014), the law reforming adoption (2013), and the law regarding the fight against human trafficking (2014). Representatives from two HPP AKSE civil society grantees—ASDE/Konesans Fanmi and Fondation Maurice Sixto—shared their experiences working to protect the rights of women and girls, and called for additional technical and financial support to continue their work to improve human rights in Haiti.

These first essential steps place the country in a favorable position to meet its objective of providing better protection for at-risk women and children through the creation of a policy environment that is conducive to respecting human rights. This objective will not be easy to achieve, and depends upon renewed engagement among GOH agencies, civil society, and international agencies to continue the momentum in implementing key legislation and national processes to improve social protection.

The Health Policy Project is a five-year cooperative agreement funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-10-00067, beginning September 30, 2010. The project's HIV-related activities are supported by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It is implemented by Futures Group, in collaboration with Plan International USA, Avenir Health (previously Futures Institute), Partners in Population and Development, Africa Regional Office (PPD ARO), Population Reference Bureau (PRB), RTI International, and White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA).

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